Hey Everyone, Josh here again for another Modest Money review! Today, we are going to go over one of the fads that seems to be sweeping the world, online banking. Now, there are a lot of online banks out there, and I understand the need for them. However, as with any other product, there are some good online banks and some that aren’t so good. I’ve been hearing a lot about EverBank in the personal finance blogosphere. So, I figured I’d take a look and see what I find.

EverBank Short Review

EverBank Pros – EverBank hosts all kinds of banks accounts ranging from your standard check and CDs to high yield money market accounts. Also, interest rates on money market accounts are far beyond interest rates found on competitor money market accounts. Earning more always works for me! One thing that I find really neat is that you can write checks directly from your money market account. This is a feature I haven’t seen with any of their competitors.

EverBank Cons – Minimum account balances to start an account and to avoid fees are a bit high for me. To open a money market account with them for instance, you have to start with at least $1,500 and to avoid the monthly fee, the minimum balance is $5,000.00.

EverBank Overall – EverBank is a fairly well known bank with plenty of resources. They are also FDIC insured, which gives it’s customers a bit of piece of mind. There are benefits to investors in money market accounts as they generally have high yields. Also, it’s pretty simple to open an account. The only read draw back that I’ve found is that the accounts require high minimum balances. That being said, I would consider this to be a great option for money market investors that want higher yields, but not the best option for standard checking, savings and other forms of accounts.

EverBank Long Review

Now lets get into the good stuff. EverBank has been really grabbing the attention of consumers who like to invest their savings with rather large returns. In the beginning, they offer a 3% return on money market accounts as a promotional rate. After 6 months, that return is reduced to 2%. If you’re in the market now, you know that these are incredibly high returns. I would even venture to say that they’re the largest returns I’ve seen on money market accounts since before the great recession years ago! Also, when it comes to money market returns. EverBank guarantees that your account will be in the top 5% listed on BankRate.com as far as returns are considered. That’s a pretty strong guarantee! The top 5% guarantee is on money market and checking accounts which is a big plus!

OK, now lets talk about fees. Lets face it, any bank charges fees. That’s how they stay in business and offer us the services that make managing our money easier. When it comes to their checking accounts, they boast that they come with no monthly fees, no ATM fees and no annual fees. They also refund any fees charged by other ATMs if you maintain an account balance of greater than $5,000.00.

When it comes to money market accounts, they make it pretty difficult to figure out their fee structure on their website. As a matter of fact, all I was able to find on their site is that their Money Market accounts are free. However, after further research, I found that the accounts are only free under conditions. I’ve read several reports of $8.95 monthly fees if accounts do not maintain a minimum balance of $5,000.00. Because there are so many free money market accounts out there, if I didn’t have $5,000.00 to put into it, I’d have to search for another company to work with.

Another thing you really need to think about when it comes to choosing a bank no matter if it’s online or off, it’s important to know that you’re working with a reputable bank. That being said, I’ve read some very mixed results with regard to the reputation of EverBank. Those who are higher profile generally tend to love working with them. Even some regular consumers like myself have a lot of good things to say. However, I’ve also read a few complaints about differences between what the website says and what the mailed in terms say. For instance, I read one report that the website said you needed a minimum balance of $1,500.00 to avoid a $4.95 monthly fee. However, when that individual got his paperwork in the mail, he read about the $5,000.00 minimum balance with a $8.95 fee being avoided.

In EverBank’s Defense To The Above Mentioned Matter

After being upset, that person wrote a blog post about his experience and was contacted by the big wigs at EverBank. When he was contacted, he was informed that EverBank had multiple servers and at the time he signed up, they were in the process of changing terms on accounts. Because the server he had accessed and applied for the account through had not yet been updated, the terms came out different online than they did in print. EverBank claims to have cleared this matter up. I’ve only found one complaint about this. No one else online seems to have experienced any related issue.

My Overall Thoughts Of EverBank

When I started my research on this company, I grew very concerned with discrepancies in what consumers were told online and what was printed and mailed to them. I was also a bit concerned about the fees not being outwardly mentioned on their site. However, after I dug a bit further into what they have to offer and how reputable they really are, I was shockingly pleased. The bottom line is, EverBank was designed for consumers and businesses alike that have $5,000.00 or more in a savings or money market account. You don’t necessarily have to have that much money in the account, but without it, it may not be what you’re looking for.

When it comes to checking accounts, there are no monthly or annual fees. Not to mention, this is the first bank I’ve come across that’s willing to refund fees that ATMs from other banks charge. When it comes to the checking accounts, as long as you’ve got $1,500.00 to start your account with, I can’t see why you wouldn’t want to start an account with them!